How to find best deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Shopping on Black Friday, the weekend after, or Cyber Monday all involve a great deal of planning. First, you have to read the circulars and understand who is offering what. Then, after you have that knowledge you have to compare all of the prices, and if you’re comparing more than a handful of stores – which dozens are competing for the very same items nationally – the process can become as challenging as it is redundant. Technology has come a long way to helping customers tame Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping to quickly show them the best deals, the right places, and to get them in, and out the door a lot quicker than for those who take shopping on the old fashioned way.

Here are the 5 best apps to save yourself, and your wallet, some stress this weekend as you head out to capture the best deal possible.

PriceJump: This app is exclusive to iOS devices and is free – and scans a website called Savings.com to generate the best prices. The app will give you a screenshot of every price that is on the market – giving you not only the cheapest – but the closest as users can edit the maximum amount of distance they would like to cover in their travels. The only downside of the app is the fact that it’s not Android compatible and doesn’t calculate things like shipping or tax, so pay attention to those figures.

SplashShopper: Think of this as your updated list making feature. This allows you to track gift ideas in a list form, and it’s something you can keep and use year round. That said, it also tracks prices and will even let you know what items are in your price range that might be within your interest-range as well, depending on what items you include on your list. The app is $1.99 and is available on Android, iOS, and BlackBerry, too.

http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2014/11/28/2208/black-friday-smartphone-deals-2014/

Chameleon: This is a rewards app for your favorite stores. It rewards you for just being present in a store, which is a nice update to some rewards programs that reward you if you have the location feature activated on your phone. This is the shoppers guide, almost literally.
Reviews within the app will help you find bathrooms, quick routes to key locations – like bathrooms, and even tell you where particular – or popular items are within a store that you’re shopping at. This is free for iOS devices but isn’t available on Android or BlackBerry.

ShopSavvy: Scan a barcode on an item and you’re going to be told all the prices that are available at every major retailer in the United States. If that’s not enough, you can also sign up for additional rewards and deals. This is something that is particularly useful around shopping seasons like this weekend – when really what most people are looking for is price and quality. This app is free for iOS and Android devices.

http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2014/11/24/2104/amazon-black-friday-deals-2014/

Raise: This is an interesting website because it allows users to buy gift cards at as little as half of the actual value of the gift card. It takes virtually no time at all to search for a retailer, and a gift card – and purchase the gift card right from their smartphone. This app is free but is only offered on iOS devices.